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CHRISTINE Y. KIM APPOINTED BRITTON FAMILY CURATOR-AT-LARGE (NORTH AMERICAN ART)

Tate Modern today announces Christine Y. Kim in the newly created position of Britton Family Curator-at-Large (North American Art). Based in Los Angeles and New York, her role will focus on the development of North American art in Tate’s collection through new research and acquisitions. Kim will start in January 2022.

Since 2009 Kim has been a curator of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), organising monographic exhibitions such as Julie Mehretu (2019-22), Isaac Julien: Playtime (2019), Diana Thater: The Sympathetic Imagination (2015-16), and James Turrell: A Retrospective (2013-14), along with group and permanent collection exhibitions. Most recently, she curated Black American Portraits (2021-22), covering two centuries of African American portraiture, coinciding with The Obama PortraitsTour (2021-22). During her tenure, Kim has been instrumental in expanding and diversifying LACMA’s collection, exhibitions, and programmes, and in developing new models for equity and inclusion across the institution. She sits on boards of non-profits such as GYOPO, Denniston Hill, Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND), and Museums Moving Forward (MMF). Kim is a 2022 Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) Fellow.

Before joining LACMA, Kim worked at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, where she co-curated Freestyle (2001) with Thelma Golden, launching the groundbreaking “F” series of exhibitions. Black Belt (2003) included works of art by African American and Asian American artists such as David Diao, David Hammons, and Arthur Jafa in the context of 1970s popular culture and martial arts. Kim is responsible for putting artists such as Wangechi Mutu, Mickalene Thomas, Kehinde Wiley, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye in their first US museum exhibitions. Holding an MA from New York University, Gallatin School of Individualized Study in American Studies and Critical Theory, and a BA in Art History and French from Connecticut College, New London, Kim has contributed to multiple publications and guest-curated international exhibitions including The Ends: The Politics of Participation in the Post-Internet Age 2018 at the 12th Gwangju Biennial, South Korea.

As Britton Family Curator-at-Large, Kim will play a significant role in acquiring North American works for the Tate collection. Supported by the Britton Family Foundation, this position will continue to broaden Tate’s approaches to modern and contemporary art, forge new relationships with artists, scholars, and curators in the region, and contribute to curating exhibitions and projects at Tate. Kim will work closely with the Director of Collections (International Art), the Tate Americas Foundation and the North American Acquisitions Committee, as part of Tate’s wider network of specialist Adjunct Curators based in other regions around the world.

Christine Y. Kim said: “After twelve incredible years at LACMA, I am thrilled to bring my expertise in collection-building, focusing on works of art by living artists of colour, to a national and Canadian scope, to share on an expanded, global scale at Tate.”

Gregor Muir, Director of Collections, International Art at Tate said: “Christine is a hugely talented and experienced curator, with a reputation for showcasing the incredible diversity of North American contemporary art. I’m delighted that she’ll be joining the team in this role. As an American living in the United States, Christine will also bring on-the-ground expertise to Tate’s activities in the region.”

Paul Britton Chairman of the Tate Americas Foundation said: “The Britton Family Foundation is pleased to support this new position as a part of its commitment to expanding the voices of North American artists in Tate Collection. Christine Y. Kim brings distinguished experience to Tate and will be an enormous asset in Tate’s charge of being artistically adventurous and culturally inclusive.”

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TATE ANNOUNCES TOBIAS OSTRANDER AS THE NEW ESTRELLITA B. BRODSKY ADJUNCT CURATOR, LATIN AMERICAN ART

Tobias Ostrander is the new Estrellita B. Brodsky Adjunct Curator, Latin American Art at Tate. He is the former Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (2011-2019). Major exhibitions developed for PAMM include Beatriz González: A Retrospective; Beatriz Milhazes: Jardin Botânico; On the Horizon: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection; Ebony G. Patterson: …while the dew is still on the roses… and Poetics of Relation, a group exhibition inspired by the writings of Édouard Glissant, among others. Ostrander was a founding member of Tilting Axis, a platform for artists, curators and creatives from the greater Caribbean region (2014-2019). Osrander served previously as the Director at the Museo Experimental El Eco (2009-2011) and Chief Curator at Museo Tamayo (2001-2009) both in Mexico City and Associate Curator of inSITE2000 in San Diego and Tijuana (1999-2001). He was a founding member of the inter-institutional Museum of Hub initiated by the New Museum (2007-2012). He has additionally held positions at XXIV Bienal de São Paulo, El Museo del Barrio and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Speaking on the appointment, Ostrander says “I am excited to be joining Tate and look forward to supporting the remarkable work that it has been doing in building and activating its collection of Latin American Art. I look forward to continuing my research within the Caribbean, as well as pursuing interests regarding contributions of the African diaspora within Latin America, those of Latin X artists and the influences of both indigenous and Pre-Hispanic knowledge on artistic production in the region.”

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PABLO JOSÉ RAMIREZ, APPOINTED ADJUNCT CURATOR, FIRST NATIONS AND INDIGENOUS ART

Tate is pleased to announce the appointment of the curator for First Nations and Indigenous Art as a part of the Hyundai Tate Research Centre. The Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational promotes new ways of interpreting and presenting art through the framework of ‘transnational’; a way of understanding and curating art that encourages the idea that art and its histories are interconnected beyond its country of origin. Integrated within Tate’s curatorial vision, the Centre’s work is manifested in exhibitions, new acquisitions and collection displays as well as in academic outcomes and public programs.

Pablo José Ramírez is a curator and cultural theorist in the field of indigenous contemporary art practices. His work revisits Latin American post-war societies to consider non-western ontologies, indigeneity, forms of racial occlusion and transnationalism. In 2014 he curated alongside Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, the 19th Paiz Biennale: Transvisible. He was the recipient of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and Independent Curators International 2019 Award for Central America and the Caribbean. Among his exhibitions are La Medida del Silencio, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, NuMu, Guatemala (2020); The Shores of the World: on communality and interlingual politics, Display, Prague (2018); This Might be a Place for Hummingbirds, co-curator, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow (2015). He has also co-curated the groundbreaking research project Guatemala Después, at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons School of Design, New York (2014-2016). Pablo will work closely with colleagues across the curatorial team at Tate Modern, including Michael Wellen, Curator, International Art and with the Latin America Acquisitions Committee and the North America Acquisitions Committee. He holds an MA in Contemporary Art Theory from Goldsmiths, University of London.

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Please Welcome Maria Balshaw as new Director of Tate

Dr Maria Balshaw CBE starts as new Director of Tate on June 1. She is the first woman to be appointed to the role. Maria began her career in academia before working for Arts Council England in Birmingham and then becoming Director of the Whitworth in 2006. She quickly became a key figure in the transformation of Manchester’s cultural sector, curating radical and popular programs and expanding the city’s art collections. On behalf of all supporters, the Tate Americas Foundation wishes Maria well in her new post and looks forward to her visits to the Americas in years to come.

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Tribute to Sir Nicholas Serota

Nicholas Serota will be retiring at the end of this month after 28 years as Director of Tate. We would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to him for helping make Tate into an organization respected throughout the world.

It was Nick’s vision that led to the creation of Tate Modern and the redefinition of the original gallery at Millbank as Tate Britain. He led the creation of Tate St Ives and has also sought to strengthen the role of Tate as a national institution through the further development of Tate Liverpool in taking a leading part in the celebration of the city as European City of Culture in 2008 and by establishing partnerships with galleries across the country through the Plus Tate program.

During his term the range of Tate’s collection has broadened to include photography and the geographical reach has been extended across the world, taking a more global view.

The collection has been strengthened by major acquisitions of historic British art, as well as important additions to the modern collection including major works by Bacon, Beuys, Bourgeois, Brancusi, Duchamp, Horn, Mondrian, Richter and Twombly, amongst many others. The contemporary collection has been developed into one of the strongest in the world. He was instrumental in helping to secure the ARTIST ROOMS collection given to Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland by Anthony d’Offay as a collection to be shown across the UK. In the past ten years, he has curated some of Tate’s most acclaimed and popular exhibitions including Donald Judd, Howard Hodgkin, Cy Twombly, Gerhard Richter and Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs.

In the early days of Nick’s tenure, the American Fund for the Tate Gallery was gifted by Sir Edwin and Lady Manton. The endowment, which was to acquire works of art by North and South American artists, gradually grew into the Tate Americas Foundation. During the last 25 years, the Tate Americas Foundation has raised over $300 million for Tate, the main focus being the creation of Tate Modern and the strengthening of its collection of contemporary art.

While none of this would have been possible without the support of our donors, Nick’s deep involvement in our work has been pivotal in making the Tate Americas Foundation such a success. While we will all miss his leadership, we wish him a very fulfilled and happy retirement.

Thank you, Nick!